Expedition Update # 22 - Direct from the High-Arctic! These updates are composed on our sub-notebook computer, which is powered by solar panels courtesy of UNSW, then sent using software from Global Marine Networks, over a satellite mobile phone provided by Landwide Satellite Solutions. Thanks very much to all involved! Date: 15/9/05 Time: 8:30 pm Position: 70 deg 47.741 min N, 105 deg 6.225 min W Summary: Land gripped by winter Location Map: Click the map to the left and a new browser window will open, directed to Google's new satellite maps feature. The map view will be centred on our current location. Zoom in for more detail. Weather: Cold, snowing and overcast. Temperature: Anywhere between -2 and -7 deg C Message: SLAM!!! We sat bolt upright in our sleeping bags as a particularly savage blast of wind exploded against our tent. If you, like me, believed that Summer and Winter are normally separated by a few months of Autumn (or Fall), you'd be as surprised as we were as we peered in disbelief outside the tent, the morning after our last update. The world beneath our PACs slid overnight into the grips of the Arctic Winter. While we slept the lake beside us froze, the swampy ground turned to concrete and the thermometer fell to -7.2 deg C. We awoke to a barren, frozen wasteland - whipped along by the wind, the snow (still falling) had built up into long tails behind every rock and tussock, while the remaining spindrift tore along the ground like smoke on the surface of water. We assumed this to be a storm, and as it grew in ferocity we sheltered inside our tent for the following 2 days, waiting for it to pass, or at least die down. With only about 5km left to the inland esker we've been aiming towards for weeks, we frustratingly had to fritter away time playing 'hangman', 'boxes' and '4 in a row' on scraps torn from our notebook! About twice a day we'd rug up with everything we had and venture out to the 'lake' to collect 'water' - chopping a square hole through the ice (about 3 inches thick by the 2nd day) to the water beneath. The winds were so forceful that without embedding the tomahawk into the ice and clinging to it with one hand while filling up I was physically blown out across the ice! I put the cup down and it made a sudden leap for freedom and just took off, screaming along the lake, bouncing ever higher as it collided with frozen lumps and bumps until it came to rest, silent and lifeless on the far side, embedded in what used to be foam whipped up on the shore by the wind, but now frozen was much more like meringue. So after 2 days of this, we could stand it no longer and decided to face the storm and push on, determined to make the last jump to the esker. I had to use the tomahawk to chip my hiking poles out of the 'mud' that I had casually poked them into earlier. We donned 5 layers of clothes - an Icebreaker skin and mid thermal layer, both down and windstopper jackets and a gore-tex outer shell - and shackled ourselves up to our PACs, did our best to convince ourselves that although blinded by snow we knew which way we were going, and set off. We didn't make it. 5:00pm came around to find us only 2km from camp, numb from cold and totally exhausted. The esker now a tantalising 3km away we longed to press on, but the safest thing to do was make camp and try again tomorrow. It was here that I discovered that it is difficult to convince an aluminium tent peg to be driven into what was again, essentially concrete. Many bent pegs and hammer-struck hands later we huddled dubiously inside a tent that was 'secured' by semi driven in pegs and lashings across to our PACs. To add to the excitement we had no idea what we'd setup the tent on, and the secret was only gradually revealed as the night wore on and the snow beneath us melted, leaving our backs suspended by the odd rock. =P Good times. We love it. The next day was similar as we prepared for our final dash to the esker. We even pre-made lunch to pack and save having to make it on the run. However once we held our lunch in our hands we weakened, and decided it best to pre-eat them also, which we did. Tisk tisk! I won't bore you with repeated descriptions of hauling, suffice to say we endured a lot that day, and went through some of the hardest terrain we've encountered - pulling the PACs off their wheel-cradles many times, breaking through ice on the side of shallow lakes and having to heave them out, and .. yes. Anyway - we JUST made it to the esker by 6:00 pm, and enjoyed a 2nd lunch, nut breaks, dinner and hot chocolate, and still felt ravenous after the days efforts. It feels great to have pushed on and made it here though, finally. This esker looks like being the final journey on our expedition. As we're sure most of you will have worked out for yourself several weeks ago by looking at our progress, we were never going to make it to the far side of Victoria Island. Indeed only 2 weeks into our adventure we'd have had to basically triple the distance covered on our BEST day, on every following day, to cover the 1000km ahead within the allocated 65 days of food. The reasons for this are many and varied - for a start we were delayed almost 3 weeks by the truckers strike in Vancouver meaning we missed the best month of summer and consequently are now heavily slowed by the oncoming winter, also being honest, the terrain we face here simply does not allow for travel any faster than we have managed. There is a limit to how far you can drag 1/4 ton behind you each day over the best of ground, and using all the maps we had, satellite photographs, local advice etc, the fact remains that no one has ever explored much of this land, and we didn't know what we'd face out here - and therein lies the fun of it! We came out here for an adventure of a lifetime, and that's what we've got! We are here for the journey - not just to reach a destination, and that is what has given us the energy to push on all these many weeks - each day we experience amazing things, walk untrodden lands and live the adventure. So don't go thinking we are in any way down or disappointed with our efforts - we are in the highest of spirits and absolutely thrilled to be out here exploring one of the few unexplored regions of this world! We feel that exploring is about taking experiences in, pushing your limits, learning and documenting - which is what we've done for the past 48 days. =) That is what world first expeditions are all about- getting out there and giving it a go, and not knowing what lies ahead. We believe the last float plane flew off the island to warmer places on the 3rd September (Cheers Fred for flying us out here!), we opted to stay on here and experience the full 65-day adventure, and just get as far as we could. So now, short of calling in a helicopter (horrendously expensive and probably couldn't carry out our PACs), our return to civilisation rests with one plane company who is going to try to land on our esker (pretty much the only possible place to attempt to land out here), and pick us and our PACs up. We are going to hunt along this 35km esker and work with them to find a possible landing site (removing boulders etc if needs be!). Leaving a few days food still in reserve in case of bad weather, it looks like we'll be picked up around the 25th September. Until then, the adventure continues! Just a note - my Dad has prepared a map of the island online with our route drawn on and campsites marked, so you can actually get a feel for where we've come! Cheers Dad! It's on the main 'Updates' webpage on www.1000HourDay.Com, the one that lists the various updates (such as this one.) So what other news? We ran out of coffee the other day - save enough for 1 weak cup on the last day to celebrate. We now simply drink more cups of tea instead. As an example of what we are driven to out here, we lick our tea cups clean, and eat the tealeaves at the bottom - if you add a bit of white chocolate to the tea, it's not too hard to believe you're eating shaved coconut...mmmm.. just like a chocolate 'Bounty Bar'... add that to the list of delights we're going to buy from the first supermarket we see! We have done our last stint of paddling - we made it across the last of those lakes between the coast and the esker before freeze-up - the last lake we paddled in sub zero temperatures with splashes freezing to the deck! Close shave. I did our weekly SkyNews TV interview (apparently broadcast in Aust, NZ and possibly elsewhere?) with only 500m left to paddle, a lull in the weather - perfect calm conditions with the wind at our backs. Lovely way to sign that chapter of the expedition off. Freeze-up has pushed us through a steep learning curve - now we head for 'mud pits' as they are now flat and solid, and similarly where we used to avoid creeks like the plague, now we haul merrily along frozen waterways, wearing our Yowie Snowshoes to grip on the ice. On the other hand, once soft tussock grass has now transformed into a nightmarish boulder field etc... So overall the winter change is not all bad by any means, just another experience to add to our ever growing list. How many people have seen the look in the eye of a lone bull musk ox that wandered right up to us in sub zero temperatures, just after he'd evidently waded through a deep river... I wonder if he knew his long dangling fur (hanging wet) was about to turn solid, and he was doomed to loose his macho look and would within hours transform into a walking wind-chime and remain that way for the next 6 months... Poor fellow. That's it for now. Just one thing though - as the end draws nearer, we have enjoyed sending out these updates very much, and hope that you've enjoyed following our crazy antics as much as we have enjoyed sharing them. We'd love to know how many people out there have been reading these updates - whether it be sent directly to you from us by Email, passed around your work office, read on ThePoles.com, or forwarded on to you from someone else, could you PLEASE do us one quick favour and let us know? If you have a chance, please send us a quick email to contact@1000hourday.com with the subject "I'm here!". We will of course keep your email address totally confidential, and would only ever use it once or twice to let you know any brief messages about when our documentary comes out, lectures or book etc. If you'd rather not even get those few emails, please just let us know in the email - we'd still love to be able to add you into the count! Thanks very much, and we look forward to seeing who, back in the real world, as been following our journey! Cheerio! More in a few days if all goes to plan! (Hauling onwards towards the esker through snow and winds) (Left - Clark gingerly hauls over a frozen river, Right - Chris collects water through ice-hole) Back to updates list To send us a message, please contact us anytime!